THEATRE IN LAURENS COUNTY IS BACK!! You could feel it with Willie Wonka. It became more certain with The Wizard of Oz. And, it is confirmed, with Disney’s The Little Mermaid.
Just wrapping a very successful two-weekend run at the Laurens County Community Theater’s new home -- Clinton High School -- Disney’s The Little Mermaid was the perfect blend of newcomers and theater veterans, dedicating a show to the late Joe Timmons, LCCT’s executive director and CHS faculty member prior to his untimely death. Joe had started auditions for this show and had developed some of the set design so the dedication was fitting. LCCT veterans stepped in for directorial duties in his place. Joe also had a long-time association with the Lancaster theater, and we certainly miss his artistic eye.
Disney’s The Little Mermaid, for parents, can evoke those feelings experienced the first time they saw the wonderful animated movie with their young children. It was a classic Disney fairy tales, with reallu poppin’ music. Arial flies out of the water with that iconic hair-flipping, sunset lighted scene, it is a masterpiece of animated cinema. With the stage production, there are fewer time constraints that with a film designed to be under 90 minutes.
Bad guys (or gals!) get badder - dizzy characters get dizzier, the songs and the dancing even more enchanting. It is all that makes live theater such a treasure.
We certainly hope that many youngsters were able to see Disney’s The Little Mermaid produced by the LCCT (at a very affordable price), but we suspect many did not - the next challenge may be to stage a production during school hours, and bringing students were the elementary schools and child-care centers. LCCT has coordinated this before in a different venue, so it is not out of the rhelm of possibilities.
In any event, our sincere congratulations go out to everyone who worked on and contributed to Disney’s The Little Mermaid, produced by the LCCT at CHS, in a partnership with School District 56. This is what authentic, immersive education looks like and what our children definitely should be exposed to throughout their young lives. Who knows, the next Walt Disney may be among us right now.
Keep an eye on the LCCT’s social media for word about the next auditions and, if you are so inclinded, consider lending your talent to one of their productions. Theatre!! - it’s a hard-knock life and not for the faint of heart, but when you hear the applause, there’s nothing like it.
